THE PALACE OF ILLUSIONS BY CHITRA BANERJEE

[00:00:00]So talking about Chudra Banerjee, the palace of illusion is my favorite annual ritual as a book reviewer. I know that I have done it multiple times yet I don't care about being repetitive because I want to be reminded of quite often why do I love her writing style and her literary sensibility immensely. So I'll talk about the various aspects of the particular novel in this book review that I absolutely adore, admire and in of so first and foremost is a complex characterization of draadi because till now whatever we have read of Indian history it's from a male perspective. So writing it from the perspective of drapped brings a whole sense of freshness and raw honesty to it. Now the moment when Draadi was born, it was an act of rebellion itself because she was born out of fire. And when King Duped had performed that Yagya, he wanted a son so that the son could avenge the moment of his disrespect from Donachara.

[00:01:08]So Draadi accompanied her brother out of the fire. So the very moment of her birth is a rebellion against the destiny. And since she was born out of fire, her complexion was extremely dark.

[00:01:21]Like she was darker than the darkest of the cloud. So from the very beginning, you see that she strives against the stereotypical standard of beauty and walks in her own rhythm. I just love the way she evolves from a very naive, sweet girl who thinks of a palace of marrying a king and living a peaceful and luxurious life actually evolves into this vengeful and strong lady whose anger is intense than the than braver than the bravest of the warriors. And this anger is so dark and so fiery that it actually wipes away the entire Corva clan. The other aspect that I love about this novel and that is why I go back to it multiple times is the kind of language. It's a pros but it's written in such a poetic way that I feel that if someone wants to improve their vocabulary and the seamless way of writing they should read Chitra Banerjee. I'll give you an example. When Rodi swimmer was described, she had written a few lines that it was an atmosphere which was decorated with anxiety infused with a perfume of hope where pride was playing the wedding flute and anger was beating the drum. So you see the beautiful way she has personified all these abstract nouns and created a picture that you cannot only see but feel it deeply.

[00:02:56]The most endearing aspect of this novel is Drapped's beautiful bond with Lord Krishna. I have used this line earlier in one of my book reviews that whether it is agnostic, theist or atheist, we all are in love with Lord Krishna. So he was her sakha and we see the very devotion that she has for Lord Krishna actually saved her from committing suicide when she was in her agyatas.

[00:03:27]And there is this one moment where she looks at him and she feels that this is what the ultimate happiness must feel like because she thinks that if at that moment God would ask her what does she want from life? She would say nothing just because Lord Krishna is right there in front of her.

[00:03:47]When her brother had asked her when he saw her growing as someone who carries a lot of baggage of bitterness that what happened to the sweet naive girl, innocent girl who would talk to everyone very softly. And she answered with the utmost honesty that she died the day when nobody took a stand for her in that court when she was being disroed and insulted in front of everyone that cheered her an incident and she had this motive that she has to take that revenge from the corvas. Another controversial aspect of this particular novel is the angle between Draadi and Karn because many writers feel that and many readers have also opiate that she should not take any kind of a liberty uh when it comes to Indian history because it's a part of our religion.

[00:04:42]I feel that one can read that particular aspect from a creative and literary perspective because she has done it in a very dignified and decent way. Uh the moment Drai saw Karn's portrait uh before her swimmer, she was really drawn to the ancient uh sadness in his eyes because she felt that destiny had been unfair to both of them and the fact that she insulted him for the very first time regarding his uh ancestors, regarding his lineage and all those things. So she carried this baggage of guilt for all her life and later on there is this scene where Karn confesses his feelings to sa Vishuama and although their conversation and their scenes together it's quite minimal uh but it leaves a lot of impact at least I admire that creative input that she has given to the story.

[00:05:46]Now her uh talent as a writer who reaches whole another level because Mahabharat is the greatest epic ever written uh Maha Cavia. So there are many stories within stories within stories and she has managed to include everything in barely 350 pages. So you will also get to know about Ronachar's background about Kendra about Ashwat Tama about Yudhishtar about Kunti about Gandhari about Dhrash a little about all the major characters and I think it will actually peique your interest into reading more scriptures and uh these are the things I feel that every woman and every girl should read this novel so that one can actually take their inspiration from the journey of Draati because the way she evolved and the most interesting aspect is that at the end also when she leaves her palace everything to Parikad and his wife and their family uh she questions it in her own mind that would she have liked to have her life go in any other direction in any other way would she would have traded her struggles and her life in forest, her anger, those years of darkness for anything else. And the answer was no. She wouldn't have traded that adventurous life for anything else in the world. So I think I'll talk about this novel next time also when I find any other aspect because I think it has multiple layers and it's definitely a wonderful recommendation for the beginners because the language is although poetic but it's very simple at the same time because she has not used that shashitarude kind of a vocabulary but at the same time it will help you to improve your writing skills and you will thoroughly enjoy the story. I mean it's uh you see a character who is expected to do very feminine things gam kaj you know the household chores but she has no knack for dancing no knack for learning the art and those things but draati had a very fine acument for politics that is why you see that how you actually takes her help whenever he has to decide regarding uh any whenever he has to take any major decision and yeah I one more thing which is uh quite I think writers have always failed to describe this aspect of women is her sense of humor because uh there is a point during her onevas when she was in exile that she's extremely tired of the righteousness of Yudhisht where she feels that he's just giving all these moral lessons and the way she has this whole sasbahu drama with I and the way she kind of makes fun of Duryodhan. So I am in absolute awe of this character and I have made I mean uh I don't want to brag about myself but I have made at least 30 to 35 people buy this book and they read it and they loved it and if you have watched the video till now I hope you read it too and I hope you like it.